Chilcot said that his duty as chair of the Iraq Inquiry was to
answer the following questions:

1. Whether it was right and necessary to invade Iraq.

2. Whether the UK was best prepared for the invasion.

He made the following key points, after remembering those
killed in the Iraq War and for those who are "continuing to
suffer" in Iraq:

Britain went to war before
peaceful options had been exhausted and therefore the Iraq War
was "not the last resort."

The intelligence that was
intended to be used to justify going to war was presented
"with a certainty that was not justified.”

Planning for the invasion of Iraq was "wholly inadequate."

Ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President
George W. Bush were "in fact undermining the security
council's authority" despite blaming France for
obstructing action.

The decision to go to Iraq War was based on "flawed
intelligence". Blair presented the intelligence about Iraq’s
so-called weapons of mass destruction "with a certainty that
was not justified."

Iraq policy should have been discussed with Britain's cabinet
a number of times, but it was not.

The Iraq Inquiry "does not accept" Blair's claim that it was
"impossible" to predict the problems the country would face
post-invasion.

Britain failed to fully-prepare for the invasion, as well as
in its reconstructive efforts of the country.

The Ministry of Defence was slow to respond to explosive
devices used during the war.

Resources for Iraq War were inadequate.

Britain's effort in post-conflict
Iraq "never matched the scale of the
challenge."

It was “humiliating” that Britain had to do a deal
with insurgent groups in Basra, Iraq because the UK was so
unprepared for the scope and scale of the war.

Blair "overestimated his ability to influence US
decisions on Iraq."

The legal decision-making for Britain's involvement
in the war was "far from satisfactory."

The Iraq
Inquiry background and what happens next

The Iraq
Inquiry, dubbed the Chilcot Inquiry, is one of the most
highly-anticipated political reports in Britain's
history.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was in office from
1997-2007, took Britain to war in Iraq in 2003.

The 2.6 million word document is the culmination of a huge
investigation that was launched by former Prime Minister Gordon
Brown in 2009 into the UK's involvement in the war in Iraq.

The report, which is estimated to have cost over £10 million
($12.9 million) of taxpayers' money, has been chaired by former
senior civil servant Sir John Chilcot and has taken 7 years to
complete.

At the launch in 2009, Chilcot explained:

"This is an Inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors. It
will consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of
July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the
military action and its aftermath. We will therefore be
considering the UK's involvement in Iraq, including the way
decisions were made and actions taken, to establish, as
accurately as possible, what happened and to identify the lessons
that can be learned. Those lessons will help ensure that, if we
face similar situations in future, the government of the day is
best equipped to respond to those situations in the most
effective manner in the best interests of the country."

179 British troops died during the 2003 invasion in Iraq
and, since then, 251,000 combatants and civilians in total have
been killed in the country, according to the database The Iraq
Body Count.

Politicians, family members of those killed in the Iraq
war, and some journalists received reports at 8 a.m. BST — 3.5
hours in advance of the general public release.

Former
British Prime Minister and former Leader of the opposition Labour
Party, Tony Blair (right) leaves his Grosvenor Square offices on
July 5, 2016 in London, England.Getty

While the report will cover everything from the UK’s understanding of Iraq’s "weapons of
mass destruction" capability, to
the Britain's "preparedness and actions” in Iraq “as an
occupying power," all eyes will turn to whether former PM
Blair will be prosecuted for war crimes.

Previously, there were a number
of reports that suggested
the International Criminal Court
(ICC) definitely would not be prosecuting Blair
following the publication of the Chilcot Inquiry.

However, a prosecutor
at ICC dismissed reports that the court had totally ruled out
prosecuting Blair for war crimes, according to The Times. Fatou Bensouda
confirmed that she could investigate "anyone" for war crimes.
But, importantly, this action could only be taken
against Blair if the following criteria are met:

It could be proved that Blair knew and approved of offences
on the ground in Iraq.

If Britain refuses to investigate the former Prime
Minister.

On Wednesday, protesters gathered outside Blair's London
home, calling for him to be brought to trial:

Protester
Michael Culver, 78, wearing an Iraq t-shirt stands outside the
London home of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on July
6, 2016 in London, England.Getty